The Power of One
by BlakeM.D
Summary: Naruto, as the son of the Yondaime Hokage, Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, and one of the few remaining Uzumaki around, has absolutely no reason to become anything other than a successful shinobi. And he does. At age six. How will a Naruto, who has seen the hell war is, impact the Ninja World? Find out. Warnings: Language and blood
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

It was done. He had done it. His life was fading away and his wife was dead and his village was wrecked but _damnit _he had _fucking done it!_ He had sealed the Kyuubi and he had sealed him _good_. That monstrosity was never getting out of his Reaper Death Seal. Not only that, the demon's potent chakra would be filtered into his son's coils, increasing Naruto's chakra capacity and boosting his already impressive healing rate and physical condition, courtesy of his late wife's Uzumaki bloodline limit, the Perfect Body Limit.

Thinking of his beautiful wife, Kushina, was enough to snuff out any positive emotions Minato had been feeling at the moment. He looked to her body, feet away from him and surrounded by her (and his) blood, oddly accentuating her tomato red locks. Tear tracks lined her cheeks, originating from her closed eyes, all but dry now in the cool October air. Her waist long hair fanning out around her prone body made her look like an angel.

An angel of sacrifice, perhaps.

Hadn't that been the goddamn story of his darling's life? Sacrificed by Uzu, to appease their allies. Sacrificed by Konoha to contain a taint she had no business being near. Sacrificed by a madman in his quest for destruction. And finally, sacrificing herself to see a beast she was made responsible for before her fifteenth birthday by some old geezers, sealed again.

Such is the life of a Jinchuriki some may say, but when you've been the husband and the father to such 'living sacrifices', such complacent sentimentalities are little better liked than pig's piss to your ears. His _wife_ had been a 'Jinchuriki' and that didn't make him feel any better about her treatment. Minato doubted it'd helped Kushina out much either when she was alone and scared and so far away from home. And now, as his mother before him, Naruto would lead such a life. Such a _lonely_, lonely life. Was that what he was leaving for his son?

Sweet Jesus, his son! His baby _fucking_ boy, would see a life of hardships _worse_ than even his darling wife had ever had to face, especially considering that this time people had seen and heard and lost loved ones to the beast. With Kushina, it had been a cold secret hanging over her head, straining her friendships and keeping those who may have helped her when she was young and _needed it_ away. With Naruto, he would be seen as a demon himself, and that was many times worse. The unfair, lonely life of his beloved would seem an oasis for such a cursed child, thirsting for love the way one would water in a desert. Because of the villagers. Because of that damn demon. Because of that Masked Man. Because of him.

He felt like puking. He just may have, had he eaten anything in the last day or so. Also, the lack of a _fucking_ stomach may have had something to do with his inability to regurgitate. When the Kyuubi's claw had speared towards his baby boy, both he and Kushina had leapt, keeping a beast the size of a damn mountain at bay with will and grit and flesh and bone and _oh god it hurt_. Remembering the event seemed to clear away the fog of shock and adrenaline which had coated his mind, like a loving parent might a child, opening his mind to the pain and reminding him that he was a dead man walking.

His soul was slowly being drained into the belly of the Shinigami, and God if that prospect didn't scare the holy hell out of him now that the moment for heroics had passed and everything was still again. At the end of the day, he was just a man. He wasn't very complicated. He just wanted to make love to his wife and drink beer with his friends and hold his baby in his arms and keep his home safe. He didn't want to suffer; he had been a _good _man, damnit! He'd paid his taxes and fought for his country and had always tried to do the right thing! Did he deserve this? Was he being punished for all the lives he'd taken in the name of Konoha in the last war? Which way did his compass really point? Was he an evil man who'd managed to convince himself that the ends justified the means? Kill or be killed makes it ok to do it, right?

He didn't know. He wasn't positive. He thought he was a good person but could he honestly say one hundred percent? Nope. He had no damn idea. But, there's one thing he was sure of.

If he was going to suffer for _eternity _in the belly of the god of death, he'd be damned if the village he'd lived and killed and died for was going to treat his son poorly. Damned if Naruto was mistreated. Damned if Naruto was ignorant of the overwhelming love his mother and father had held for him. Damned if scum like Danzo got his filthy paws on Naruto.

He'd be _GodDamned!_

No. No, he couldn't die just yet. He only needed a little bit more but _not yet damnit_!

Pissing blood from his abdomen like a scared six year old would urine in his pants, he forced himself to walk forward, toward the lit torch that his village now resembled. He staggered and tripped and almost lost his balance. But with his son in his arms, he somehow found the strength to keep upright, heading for the village gates. He had a plan, but to put said plan into action he would need an audience. A big one.

Minato had accomplished many great feats in his life. When compared to single handedly winning a war and taming the perpetually rowdy Uzumaki Kushina, walking a mile is hardly worth noting. However, when Minato arrived at those big green gates, he'd never felt more accomplished in his life.

When the first shinobi standing vigil on top of the wall surrounding Konoha spotted the Yondaime, he almost fell off. After he'd righted himself, he immediately sprinted down the barrier and across the dirt path to the Hokage's side.

"Raido-kun..."

"Hokage-sama," the shinobi, now identified as Raido, gasped in excited breathlessness.

Before he could get any further Raido noticed both the child in his leader's arms and the yawning wound trying to pass as his midsection. His eyes widened in horror, and bringing shaking hands up to his mouth, he tried to speak.

Before Raido could get anything out, the Yondaime gave a small shake of his head, cutting him off. With one hand cradling his son, the other holding his gut, Minato took a second to center himself. Now, pale with blood-loss, Minato softly, wetly, whispered to his underling, "Open the gates for me will you, Raido-kun? Then, please gather as many people there as you can, including Sandaime-sama. Don't worry, the Kyuubi has been defeated. And don't worry about me either, Raido-kun. Just go, please."

For a moment, it seemed as if the shinobi would ignore his leader's words, either too stunned at the state of his commander to comprehend speech or perhaps contemplating disregarding the order and hauling the Yondaime off to the hospital. Then, however, he saw in his leader's eyes a need for compliance and understanding that made him pause. Without a word he nodded his head and took off, back up the great wall and immediately gave the order to open the gates to the ninja on the ground.

Whatever the chunin expected to see when they opened the doors they'd been guarding, it wasn't the Yondaime, child in hand, leaving a macabre trail in his wake, start to shuffle his way into the village.

Minato only made it over to a bench within a stones toss of the gate before he had to sit down, the leeching of his soul by the death god and of his blood by gravity finally catching up to him. Down but not out, Minato just focused on breathing as he await the gathering of his people. He had one last task to complete, and he'd see it done come hell or high water.

A crowd made up of both shinobi and civilians had begun to gather immediately, however it wasn't until ten minutes later that the Sandaime finally arrived and Minato determined enough people to be there for him to begin speaking.

"Thank you all for coming," he began quietly, and where there had been constant babbling and questions before, now only silence came from those present. "There's a lot that I want to say, and not a lot of time for me to say it, so please, hold your peace until I'm finished. There's someone I want you all to meet." Minato lifted his son a fraction, the baby capturing all present's attention easily with his wide, deep blue eyes, notable birthmarks on his cheeks, and soft tuft of golden hair atop his head. "This is my son. My sweet, sweet Naruto. My wife, Kushina Uzumaki, gave birth to him just tonight," Minato said with a fond smile directed at the babe in his arms.

The crowd was stunned. Hiruzen, the previous Hokage before Minato, at Minato's revealing of his child's identity to the public, everyone else at the baby's existence at all. There had been no word of Kushina's pregnancy, and through clever use of a powerful genjutsu, it had remained a secret even from those closest to the pair, save Minato's sensei and the Sandaime himself. Minato spoke again before anyone could get out the congratulations that were on the tip of their tongues.

"Please, wait until I'm finished. My wife was the container for the Kyuubi, and when she gave birth tonight, circumstances led to the release of the beast." Minato was ready for the shouts those in the crowd let out and quickly silenced them with a burst of killing intent, a technique that gives aggressive negative emotions perceptibility by others via chakra. He would have liked to break such news in a more delicate manner, hell he'd like not to tell such information to the public at all, but there was no time for delicacy and the situation demanded he tell. Glaring at the crowd for a second, Minato began again.

"The release of the beast was caused by an unknown man who attacked my wife at her weakest, just after child birth. It would not have escaped otherwise, and we took extensive precautions to try and prevent something like this from happening. We underestimated this 'Masked Man'. In order to defeat the Kyuubi, I used a technique that resealed it. Kushina was already dying because of her wounds and the Kyuubi's unsealing, and only an infant's body could handle the stress of the sealing. So…" Minato trailed off, a wince of pain entirely emotional stabbing him like the Kyuubi claw had an hour ago.

"I traded my soul for a favor from the shinigami, sealing the Kyuubi away forever into my son."

Complete silence met his declaration, jaws dropping and eyes widening everywhere. A few civilians fell back onto their rears, and one woman even fainted. She was luckily caught by a young man standing next to her, but no one could really blame her for her actions. The last few hours had been completely horrifying, with the demon's chakra thick in the air giving off a horrible feeling of hate, putting fear into the hearts of all. It had felt like many may imagine a rabbit feels, seconds before it is torn apart by hungry wolves. The revelations that the Yondaime had just laid at their feet overwhelming some was reasonable, all things considered.

Licking his lips to moisten them, Minato continued. "With my Reaper Death Seal, the Kyuubi is securely trapped in a cage constructed by a god in my son's soul."

Suddenly, the Yondaime got a deadly aura about him, leaving those perceptive enough to actively detect such things to lean back, while everyone else only felt a shard of apprehension and seriousness enter their hearts.

"Look at him. _Look at him_," Minato said, baring bloody teeth. "This is my son, you hear? _My son._ Do not confuse him for that monster that I just gave up my soul to seal. Never. The Kyuubi's power to the Shinigami's is like our power to the Kyuubi's. It. Can. Not. Get. Out. My beautiful boy is the only reason that you will see the sun rise tomorrow. He is why there is still a Konoha for us to return to at all. The only reason there are people to bury and mourn our dead."

Minato stopped and looked. _Really _looked at the people in the crowd at this point. He was happy to see that his words were having an impact on them. Well, as happy as he could feel now that the drain on his soul was almost complete. He was completely exhausted, but the villagers and shinobi alike both seemed to truly believe his words, and that was all he could hope for.

"My son will grow up without knowing the love of his mother or father. He will do this to keep all of you safe, and damnit, you _will_ appreciate it. So please. Tell him. Te-tell him his mother loved him so overwhelmingly much that she gave her life protecting him. Tell him that I regret not being there for him like I want to, and that I'm only missing because I have to be, even though I'd much rather be with him. Tell him about us. Tell him about his burden, and about how he is loved regardless. Help him become the best shinobi he can be, the best _man_ he can be. Please. My wife gave her life for you. I've given my soul for you. Please_, damnit_, _please_ give him love and acceptance for _us_!"

Minato had tears in his eyes at this point, though they had yet to fall, unlike some in the crowd who had begun to cry at one point or another while he was talking. He curled up a little bit more around Naruto, trying to keep him warm, even though his own body felt like and ice cube. He could feel his life slipping away, now that he had said his piece, his determination to hang on had faded a little. As his eyes began to flutter shut, ever so slowly, the Sandaime rushed forward, calling his name. The only things he managed to get out before he finally succumbed to the darkness were a few murmurings about Kushina's body and how he wanted to be buried next to her. Finally, Minato Namikaze, beloved Hokage, husband, father, teacher, student, friend, and leader, slumped back against the bench. His chin lay on his chest, his eyes locked with his son's until the moment they closed, forever.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

It was an average day in Konoha. The sun was beaming down unhindered by clouds, as it had been for a few hours already, trying to and not quite succeeding in making it a hot day despite the frequent pleasant breeze. The stall owners at the market had opened most of their stands, the ones that were going to open anyway, it being a Sunday and therefore many of the merchants' day off. Still, at one of the stands, a tall man with spiky white hair down to his waist stood buying an ice pop, a strawberry flavor two stick type, for himself and his young companion. Said tag-a-long was a blonde boy, not quite half a decade old yet, who was standing quietly next to his much taller friend. Not an odd sight for the residents of Konoha, the boy being well mannered and quiet, that is. Not to say there was anything extraordinary about Jiraya of the Sannin buying Uzumaki Naruto a snack either, of course.

Paying the smiling merchant and splitting the popsicle in two, Jiraya and Naruto turned to begin the trek back to their home, and what used to be the home of Uzumaki Kushina and Minato Namikaze. Naruto often thought of his parents, and always when he did is was a fond kind of pondering. His 'Uncle' Jiraya had told him all about his parents. From his mother's journey to Konoha from the lost country of Uzu, to his father's days as a jonin sensei, Naruto's bedtime stories had always been of his parents and their adventures.

Naruto loved his parents as much as any four year old could love two people he'd never met, which was actually quite a lot. His love for his lost parents, however, was nothing when compared to his complete adoration of his uncle Jiraya. Naruto loved Jiraya like a father, and he looked up to the man like most young boys do their male role model.

It was a good thing, then, that Jiraya had come a long way from the lecherous vagabond he had been a scant few years ago. There was no denying that the six foot six toad sage was still a worshiper of women, for sure. However, when the child you've vowed to take care of has a brain that soaks up its surroundings like a sponge, you either set a good example or you risk raising a perverted child. As amusing as Jiraya found such thoughts, he couldn't help but clean his act up just a little. Because Naruto did pick things up quickly.

No, that wasn't quite right. Naruto didn't pick _things up quickly_, he picked _everything_ up quickly. By two he was reading. No cow and moon stuff either, he was reading books that five and six year olds would be assigned for homework down at the civilian schools. By three he was writing chicken scratch sentences. Simple then compound and complex soon after. The kid was the 'last' of the revered Uzumaki clan, son of the Yondaime Hokage, jailor of the Kyuubi, being raised by Jiraya the toad sage, and still somehow managed to exceed all expectations placed upon him.

In spite of these achievements and his own quiet nature, Naruto was not especially arrogant for a four year old. Nor was he especially humble, of course. As a genius youngster being reared by Jiraya, there was no way in hell he'd ever be some reserved noble at four. As a matter of fact, the only reason Naruto was so quiet all the time was because his imagination was always at work. The way he expressed said imagination was in a manner befitting, and ironically not influenced at all by being, the godson of the author of the Icha Icha series.

Naruto expressed himself, not through song or paint, but through type and word. After hearing and reading so many exciting tales in his young life and having loads of ideas of his own, Naruto finally wrote his first short story when he was three and a half. It was a ten page, handwritten and illustrated story about him and Jiraya going to dinner. Nothing amazing by itself, at least, until you consider that it _wasn't _written by a five year old. After that, it wasn't uncommon to find Naruto leaned over the kitchen table, pen in hand putting his thoughts onto paper. He mostly wrote simple tales, usually adventures he'd dreamed up the day before, but occasionally he'd churn out a story about something else. His favorite genre of literature however, had been discovered by Naruto on his fourth birthday just nine months ago. As a present, his godfather, who preferred to be and was referred to as uncle, had gotten him his own library card, two fifty man packs of ninja-men (Now with eight different poses and types!), and three horror story books; two short story collections and one novel, _Vampire Neighbor._ Naruto had a great time staging mock battles with his ninja-men, and couldn't wait to use his library card the next day, but that night when he read the first two chapters of his new novel, something amazing happened. There he was, rigid with fear and scared out of his brilliant little mind. Completely enraptured by fear and fascination, Naruto had kept on reading and reading even though he was tired. He did so for one reason. He'd liked it. He'd liked it like the men in the market promised buyers _they'd_ like whatever crap they were peddling, _a helluva lot._

The next day Jiraya had found him in bed with all sides and corners of his covers tucked under his body, doing his best impression of a cocoon. He'd slept until one in the afternoon, which was much later that the eight-thirty he was usually up by. When he'd gotten up, he'd promptly, with a self-assured voice, declared to Jiraya that horror stories were the best kind ever, and he wanted to read some more, please. He then asked Jiraya to take him to the library so that he could check out a few, as he'd already read his novel (it'd only been about a hundred and twenty pages or so) and half of his first short stories book. Jiraya had blinked once, twice, and then agreed with a fond smile and a pat on the head.

All the while Naruto was learning to read and write he was also learning how to be a ninja. When raised by an S ranked ninja, sired by and S ranked ninja, birthed by an A ranked ninja, and told stories about the latter two by the former every night for years, it goes (and actually went) without saying that Naruto was going to be a ninja when he was older. It was as natural as breathing. It made just as much sense to him to learn how to throw shuriken and to do stretches every morning as it did to learn addition and the alphabet.

That was what his life was basically like in the two story house he shared with his godfather. Reading and writing. Increasing his flexibility and accuracy and form and knowledge of the shinobi arts with a quiet, wide-eyed gusto that most of his teachers and many of his friends would come to affiliate with him.

In contrast to his affectionately informal home life with his lively godfather, his treatment by the townsfolk was one of polite respect and admiration. Naruto-sama this and Naruto-sama that. It didn't make the little Uzumaki too uncomfortable most of the time; he'd honestly gotten used to it and always responded back in an equally polite manner. One such time was now, with the frozen treat merchant who'd interrupted his thoughts to call out a polite, "Please enjoy it, Naruto-sama! Jiraya-sama!"

Naruto looked back at him and smiled a small, polite-but-sincere smile and responded with a soft, "MmmHmm," and a little nod of his head. He was honestly still thinking about the subject he'd been on before the man had called out to him, the possibility of using genjutsu to give his stories pictures, or even show them like a movie to the recipient. Regardless of his internal musings, he quickly took his half of the popsicle that Jiraya was holding out to him and began to enjoy it.

"Hey Naruto, you see that building right there?" Jiraya asked with a nod of the head at the building he was pointing out.

"Hmm, the academy? What about it?" Naruto responded with a lazy lift of his eyebrow.

"You'll be starting there next spring ya know. 'Cause of that we're gonna be increasing your training starting today. First thing after we get home I want you to go upstairs and change into your training outfit, ok? 'Sup to you if you wanna wear a shirt or not, with it this hot out. All we're gonna be doin' is accessing your chakra, so no need to grab your shuriken or anythin'. Sound good?"

"Accessing my chakra… oh! Are you sure it's ok to do that? The house isn't really that far out of the way, won't people feel it?" Naruto asked. He'd been confused at first since he'd already accessed his chakra six months ago, but then he realized that the chakra he'd apparently be accessing today would be that of his prisoner. He wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that. As someone who'd lost his parents to the beast, the prospect of having anything more than the required bare minimum amount of contact with the Kyuubi was unappetizing. However, that wasn't enough of a reason for himself, nor would it be for Jiraya, to reject such potential power outright. Not to mention the sacrifice his dad, bless his soul, had made to give him easy access to the beast's chakra via the best damn example of fuuinjutsu on God's green earth. Being a smart kid all around, both of these thoughts flashed through his head. Being a four year old horror fanatic, however, honestly made the decision for him. Having access to a real monster's energy? Augmenting himself and even entering a bijuu state like he'd heard from his uncle a Jinchuriki up in Kumo could? That was basically like a werewolf transformation! So, naturally, he was quite excited about the prospect of experimenting with the Kyuubi's chakra.

"Yeah," Jiraya said, answering Naruto's earlier question about the people in the vicinity getting spooked by Kyuubi's chakra. "Won't be a problem bud. I've got a few specialty containment tags that I've been working on since Thursday. 'M gonna set 'em up around the backyard so no one will be bothered by your training. Also got a nice youkai, that's the technical term for a bijuu's chakra in case you forgot, absorption seal tag just in case things get hairy and I need to get you back under control. Before ya ask, no, I ain't really worried about that kinda thing at this stage of the game, but like whoever apparently said until it stuck, 'better have it and not need it than need it and not have it', am I right?"

"Mmm," Naruto responded, already going over the different obstacles he'd likely face with this training and thinking of ways to overcome them. One problem would be keeping himself calm when tapping into the energy of the Kyuubi, and while he didn't think he'd be doing that today, or likely tomorrow or the next day, he did figure that it would be the most difficult aspect of this kind of training, especially since the other thing he'd been primarily concerned about, drawing on the beast's chakra in the first place, would likely be made much easier via his dad's seal. The key would be keeping his head long enough to make use of that power, otherwise it'd be less than useless. It'd be downright detrimental if he lost his head, for his teammates in the future and himself.

"Jiraya, the biggest challenge later on will be resisting the beast's influence, right? Do you think having a calm memory to call upon would be helpful? Or maybe some form of meditation to help keep the objective in mind? Hmm, how do other Jinchuriki learn to handle their tenant's chakra?" Naruto asked before he took a quick lick of his popsicle. It'd begun to melt during his ponderings.

"From what I've managed to gather, most others train by themselves to gain control over their demons. I'll be honest with ya bud, we're gonna be flying blind for the most part. There's no board approved lesson plan to help gain control over a bijuu's chakra, ya know? All we can do, honestly, is make training as safe as possible for you and those around you." Jiraya gave a shrug of his broad shoulders, and continued, "As far as a calming memory or meditation go, both of those sound like good ideas, and I'd honestly already planned on teaching you how to meditate once you'd gotten accessing it's chakra down pat. What memory were you planning to use, or haven't you decided yet?" Jiraya looked down to his charge's contemplative face, complete with a slight tilt of his head to the side.

Naruto wasn't quite sure just yet about which memory he'd be calling up, or if such a thing would be met with any success anyway. He answered his godfather regardless. "Yeah, I'll have to think about it a little more. Maybe something like reading on a rainy day would be enough? I don't really know. Ah well, we're here. I'll be just a sec, see you out back," Naruto said to Jiraya before he tossed his popsicle stick into the trash and ran upstairs.

Naruto quickly changed out of his jeans and black t-shirt and into a pair of dull brown training shorts. At the last minute he threw on a white tank top. While the sun was hot outside, the breeze was enough to warrant some clothing by itself. Jumping out of the window and absently reinforcing his body with some chakra to withstand the fifteen foot fall, he easily landed on his feet and walked toward his godfather.

Their backyard was a pretty nice size. While two acres of land may seem on the slim side for other ninja families, with only Naruto using the field, it proved to be plenty of space. The entire back yard was just short cut grass and a few oak trees near the perimeter, one of which had a swing attached to one of its upper branches. There was a medium sized blow up pool that Jiraya had bought a few years ago on the left side of the property, close to the house, with a few pool toys and a floating chair that Naruto liked to read on sometimes next to it. There were a few training dummies by the back with a wall behind them to stop missed throws from ending up lost in the grass. Naruto hadn't hit the wall for months now, something both he and his godfather were proud of.

Jiraya had picked a spot almost in the perfect center of the field, with a big white sheet spread out on the ground. He was already sitting on it, waiting for Naruto to join him. Once Naruto's bare feet had reached the sheet, Jiraya began while Naruto sat down.

"Okay, I've already set up the tags so there's no need to dawdle, let's begin. First I want you to go through the procedure to access your chakra. Once you've done that, try to hold that state and feel around for anything that feels different inside of ya. If you manage to find it try following it back to its source. This is similar, if grossly oversimplified, to the basics of the Yamanaka clan's jutsu. If you're successful, you _should_ end up in the mental representation of your pop's seal. I'd imaging it'll be a big cage or something similar. To get back, all ya need to do is feel for your chakra and follow it back out. Ya got all that bud?" Jiraya asked, receiving a small nod in confirmation from Naruto.

'Ok,' Naruto thought, 'here I go.' He assumed a relaxed position and made the ram handsign. Easily finding his chakra, he began to look for anything that felt different. It wasn't long before he felt it, a tendril of energy more potent and malicious than his own. Immediately doing as he'd been told to, he latched onto that thread of youkai and followed it to its origin. He kept on and on until suddenly it felt as if he'd run headfirst into a trampoline. Harmlessly bouncing back, he opened his big blue eyes to see that he was no longer in his backyard with his uncle. Where before there had been wide open skies and green all around, now there was a ceiling. And carpet? Yep, and also there were…books. Rows and rows of books. There was an industrial sized shelf a foot and a half in front of him full of books of all sizes and colors. He took a step back to get a better idea of how long the shelf was and bumped his rear into another shelf. Turning around he finally understood where he was.

A library. His mindscape, a term he'd heard his uncle offhandedly use when talking about meditation, was an imperfect replica of the Konoha public library, his home away from home. For months now he'd been frequenting the Konoha library on his days off, usually being found curled up on the wide window sills with a book in his lap and a snack beside him. After home, it was his favorite place in the world.

He said it was an imperfect replica because, while the number of books was the same, a number of them were untitled and the few he opened had many empty pages after the writing ended. He figured the books represented his accumulated knowledge and memories. They could be useful in the event he needed to review a memory in more detail. The second difference was the windows. He'd first assumed it was just nighttime outside, but upon second glance, he realized that the stars shone in at angles they normally wouldn't. At third glance, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

Floating… The library that was his mind was _floating_ in _space_. There was a little bit of earth still attached to it, like a god had scooped the location out of the ground with a giant shovel and hurled it at the stars. Luckily, he could still breathe and was sticking to the floor without the use of chakra, two of the first things he checked upon his discovery. Even when he walked out the front doors and sat on a bench for a moment, the end of the land only a few yards away, he could still breathe perfectly well. While the sun didn't illuminate anything, indeed he couldn't see any star that shown brighter than the north star, the premises was illuminated by tall wrought iron lanterns. They stood all along the walkway leading up to the library's entrance, casting long shadows and setting a spooky tone.

Indeed, the entire location was quite eerie. Floating through the infinity of space on a library, there were absolutely no noises. He cleared his throat to check, and had his assumptions proven correct when the sound traveled normally. It wasn't that there was no air for sound to travel, it was simply that he was the only thing on the entire island alive to make noises. No wind blew, no animals scurried or cried out, no sounds were generated at all except those by hi-

Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Now that he was actively straining his ears in an attempt to hear something, he could! A very faint tapping, coming from behind him in the library, drew his attention. Taking one long last look at the vast emptiness of space, Naruto turned around and headed back in.

Following his ears, it wasn't long before he neared the origin of the sounds. He stood, honestly flabbergasted at the sight which met his eyes. There, behind the circular checkout desk in the middle of the ground floor of his library, was the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Reading.

And eating a plate of spaghetti.

Wearing a grey suit and slacks. And glasses.

'_The fuck?' _Naruto thought.

Sitting on a high-backed leather roll-y chair was a man sized fox, the color of blood, with nine bushy tails sticking out of the space between the horizontal and vertical pieces of his chair. He was idly drumming his fingers on the desk, which was where that _tap-tap-tap-_ing was coming from. He seemed to be quite engrossed in his book, leaning forward on his elbow and sucking up a noodle that had been dangling on his chin for a second.

"Umm, excuse me," Naruto began.

The Kyuubi looked up from his book lazily, regarding Naruto with vulpine eyes the color of red wine.

"Yes, Naruto-san?" he asked in a velvety voice. Not too strong nor soft, his voice was honestly unnerving in its unremarkable quality. Shouldn't it thunder like a storm or rumble like an earthquake?

'Yes Naruto-san? What the hell?' Naruto thought.

"Um, as you probably know I'm your Jinchuriki. I'll begin training to try and utilize your chakra in the coming weeks. Do you, ah, have any tips for me?" Naruto asked nervously. Regardless of his strange appearance, this was the most powerful bijuu in existence, and as such he felt his apprehension was warranted.

"Tips for you?" The Kyuubi asked with amusement coloring his voice. "Why yes Naruto-kun, as it turns out, I do." He peered down his snout at Naruto, a wooden desk, a book, and a spaghetti diner the only things between them. 'Too young, yet' the Kyuubi thought. 'Now to send him away,' he thought with glee.

"**FUCKING DON'T YOU LITTLE COCKSUCKER! I WIL RIP YOU IN HALF WITH MY FUCKING TEETH AND EAT YOUR LEGS IN FRONT OF YOU! I WILL SAW OPEN YOUR SKULL AND SIP WINE FROM THE HOLLOWED OUT CAVERN AFTER I'VE DIGESTED YOUR SQUISHY BRAIN! THE ONLY TIPS YOU'LL RECEIVE FROM ME ARE THOSE OF MY FANGS AND CLAWS BEFORE THEY FLAY THE SKIN FROM YOUR BONES!**" The Kyuubi roared, lunging at him, hissing and spitting as he tried to claw his way through the invisible force field which must have kept him contained behind the desk.

Naruto cried out, jumped back, and quickly fled in terror, barely keeping the piss in his bladder from running down his legs. He ran blindly with tears in his eyes until he finally came to the double doors at the front of the library. Throwing them open, he continued to flee until he accidentally stumbled off the edge of his floating island. He fell and fell and fell until, at last, he landed on his butt.

Opening his tear-soaked eyes, Naruto saw that he was back in his yard, his uncle Jiraya shaking his shoulder and calling his name.

"I'm ok," he whispered out, finally calming down. For all of his brilliance, the boy _was_ four. His reaction could be forgiven, as it is one thing to read about monsters, and quite another to be have your life threatened by one that was within spitting distance.

"What happened, Naruto? Are you ok? Why are you crying?" Jiraya asked, beginning to panic. His godson had been sitting still with his legs crossed for but a second before he'd begun to start twitching and crying. Nothing he'd done had seemed to help, and just when he was about to take him to the hospital, he'd opened his eyes and told him he was ok.

"I'm ok," Naruto repeated, wiping his eyes. "I was in my mindscape and I found the Kyuubi. At first he'd seemed tame. He was _dressed _and _reading _and _eating spaghetti! _ I thought he was ok but then he started screaming at me and saying bad stuff. He said he'd eat me and he tried to grab me. I just ran away and ended up back here." Now having managed to calm down, Naruto looked up to his uncle, whose arms he'd managed to find himself in once he'd started recounting his ordeal.

"Well, I believe that's quite enough for today. Let's head on inside and I'll get you some hot chocolate ready and we'll watch a movie. How does that sound?" Jiraya asked, rubbing soothing circles into his godson's back. He knew that regardless of how intelligent Naruto was, and despite him claiming otherwise, he was truly quite shaken up. He didn't blame him for a second, the Kyuubi had that quality about him that made grown men wet the bed. Jiraya'd honestly meant for him to get to the seal and come right back. That seemed exceptionally foolish, in hindsight, considering his godson's innate curiosity.

They both headed back in, the sun halfway through its descent toward the horizon, casting the faintest hints of orange over the two. Jiraya opened the sliding glass door, gave Naruto a squeeze on the shoulder, and then closed it.

Later that night, as Naruto was getting ready for bed, he decided against having Jiraya read him the next chapter in the novel he'd been burning though for the last week. After his confrontation with the Kyuubi earlier, he wasn't feeling up to being scared again just yet. He'd need no help having nightmares later, he reckoned.

Apparently Jiraya was of the same mind, because when he came in the room to read to him, he had a book of his own in hand. Sitting in the rocking chair at Naruto's bedside, Jiraya made no move for the thick tome resting on his nightstand, bringing a small smile to Naruto's face. His uncle knew him well.

"I figured that tonight we'd skip the horror and that maybe you'd be interested to listen to one of my own pieces. Matter of fact, this is the first book I'd ever written. Don't look at me like that," Jiraya said taking a swipe at Naruto's head, "it's nothing like what you're thinking. This is 'The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'. You were named after the main character, ya know? It's a story influenced by the things I'd seen back in my traveling days. The main character, Naruto, wants to bring peace to a world filled with hate and war." At this, Jiraya adopted a solemn look about himself, thinking of a prophecy told to him by a wise toad he'd not seen for years now. Moving on, but not before Naruto noticed the expression, Jiraya continued with, "So, what do you think? Wanna hear more?"

It was obvious that the novel meant something to Jiraya, and so Naruto's incredulous expression he'd been sporting since the mention that the book was one of his uncles' softened into one of admiration. He gave a small nod and a smaller smile, but it seemed enough for his uncle whose face split into a wide grin upon Naruto's response.

"Ok then, here it goes." Jiraya told his tale for about an hour until he noticed Naruto's eyes beginning to droop. He finished and marked the page, and then gave his godson's head a pat. He then stood and, whispering, "Goodnight," turned off the lamp he'd been reading by and closed the door.

Just before Naruto retired to his dreams he thought, 'Peace huh? Sounds nice.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

It'd been nearly eight months since that warm July day that Naruto had first tried to speak with the Kyuubi. Since the fox had proven to be less than helpful in regards to utilizing its enormous chakra, Naruto's progress in his Jinchuriki training had been nonexistent. Only able to call upon a sliver of the beast's power, barely enough to darken his whiskers and mess up his hair, he was still happy as even the slimmest of pickings could prove useful in the future. This singular failure however, was not indicative of Naruto's progress.

Whereas his Jinchuriki training had been a flop, his shinobi skills had improved by leaps and bounds. Now firmly into the intermediate moves in the senjutsu-less variant of the Frog Kumite, Naruto's hand to hand skills were impressive. While not as effective as its sage mode enhanced brother, the Frog Kumite he used was still a good taijustu style. Naruto had hopes that he'd one day be able to adapt the style to use the Kyuubi chakra and senjutsu's invisible aura interchangeably for the amazing invisible strikes Jiraya told him were possible. Until such a day came however, he'd use its alternative branch to effect. The only factor holding him back in the style was his small stature, but that could only be fixed by time, exercise, and proper diet.

His ninjutsu capabilities only included henge, kawarimi, bunshin, and shunshin so far. Jiraya had been planning on teaching Naruto a few more lower level techniques, but had put it off upon making a startling discovery regarding Naruto's henge.

Normally, the transformation technique was used to wrap an illusion of another person around oneself, thus giving the appearance that a change had taken place. While a useful tool for trickery and subterfuge, it had very little combat potential as you couldn't transform into something too much bigger or smaller than yourself, which may have been useful to either intimidate or hide.

Jiraya, upon ruffling the hair of his successfully transformed charge, had found himself with a handful of bushy white hair that was much longer than the Uzumaki's blonde locks should've been. Apparently Naruto's henge was a physical transformation, using chakra to make the change real on a tangible level. While it didn't actually morph his flesh and bone, it did use chakra to construct the rest of the form he decided to take. Very useful, even if it was strange looking out of the chest of his Jiraya transformation. It soon became obvious to Jiraya that Naruto must have inherited his mother's skill in raw chakra shape manipulation.

Driven by the desire to be more connected to his late mother, Naruto trained many weeks, long before and after the sun had made its daily appearance. The intensive training had paying off, and the results were visible in his daily spars with his uncle. He'd managed to replicate one of his mother's signature jutsu. However, where his mother had been able to form chakra chains strong enough to restrain a bijuu, Naruto's current limit was thin black ropes that he could manipulate to decent effect, one per hand. While the chains his mother had used in the past to fight were very effective, Naruto saw a lot of room for experimentation with the skill.

To round out his skill set, Naruto had been introduced to the theories behind genjutsu, usually in scroll form as Jiraya was unskilled in the delicate art. He was, however, able to teach Naruto how to detect and dispel illusions of various intensities. Between Naruto's sharp mind and firm control over his chakra, he was able to deal with any genjutsu Jiraya had been able to throw at him, though that wasn't saying too much honestly.

Naruto was excited this morning; he'd been looking forward to it for months. Today he would begin his shinobi career by entering the academy. Children usually entered at six, and stayed in the academy for five years, though Jiraya had told him that he was confident that Naruto would graduate early despite his younger age of five. Naruto was determined to do his best and meet his uncle's expectations.

Naruto hopped out of bed and rushed into the bathroom, wide awake the moment his eyes opened. Once he emerged from the bathroom, hygiene maintained, Naruto grabbed his outfit for the day out of his closet and dresser. He'd be going on his first day dressed in a long sleeved button up white shirt tucked into black slacks held up by a black belt with white sneakers on his feet. He had a small black tie decorated with orange stripes on, with a plain black headband wrapped around his forehead, partially hidden behind his golden locks. The headband was a promise to himself, to become a ninja as soon as possible, no matter what.

Heading downstairs to the kitchen, Naruto was pleased to see that his uncle had prepared him a small breakfast. Naruto was going to sit and talk to Jiraya, however, he pointed at the clock and Naruto decided that he'd eat on the run. So, grabbing his toast and slamming the cup of milk, he made sure his lunch was in his backpack and ran out the front door, waving his hand behind his back in thanks to Jiraya, who'd been reading the newspaper at the table.

He took to the rooftops in order to keep interactions with the villagers to a minimum, since he really didn't want to be rude and ignore someone if they yelled out a greeting which he'd have to do if he wanted to be early. Bounding from roof to roof he made good time getting to the academy, lazily munching on his toast the whole way there. Finally, in synchronization with the end of his breakfast, he landed in front of the building which held the academy, mission desk, and Hokage's office.

Making his way to the front door, Naruto took a second to brush any crumbs that may have been on his face off, and took a look around. There were many children in front of the building, some with their guardians and others there by themselves like him. He felt the beginnings of nervousness enter his system. While he was a very bright boy, and talented in the shinobi arts despite his age, he was a little awkward around other children his age. This was mainly because while other children were still drooling on themselves and scribbling with crayons, Naruto spent his time reading the same books adults did and doing pushups on the ceiling. He had hopes, though, that because these children were aiming to become ninja like him that he'd have an easier time fitting in.

Taking a steadying breath, he walked through the front doors and headed to the main desk for directions.

"Excuse me; can you please point me in the to the first year classroom?" Naruto asked the pretty lady behind the desk.

Without looking up from her magazine she asked, in a voice that indicated the question's response was well rehearsed, "Do you have your application form?"

Naruto reached into his breast pocket and took out a folded paper, handing it to the receptionist. When she looked up to take it from his hand she recognized him as the late Yondaime's son and the Kyuubi Jinchuriki.

"Oh! Pardon me, Naruto-sama! I didn't know it was you. Yes head straight down this hall," she said, pointing to her right and his left. "Your room number is one hundred eleven; it will be on your left. Please have a good day, Naruto-sama!"

Embarrassed at her eager tone and the little bit of attention they'd managed to garner from those behind him, Naruto quickly thanked the lady and headed on his way. By the time he'd reached room 111 the red had vanished from his cheeks, thankfully, and he slid the door open. Inside he found that the class was a little over half full and that everyone had turned to look at him upon the opening the door. With a little bit of the color now back on his cheeks upon finding himself at the center of attention, he gave a short bow and headed over to find a seat. Picking one in the first row, he took off his backpack and set it down under the long table everyone in his row shared. He then took out a novel, this one _Midnightmare_, and began to read.

Children kept trickling in until at last the bell rang an even ten minutes later. Immediately after it went off the teacher, a large man with short dark hair and a goatee entered the room. Quickly calling the class to order he then began to talk.

"Welcome, first years, to the Konoha Ninja Academy. I am Daikoku Funeno, and I will be your teacher this year. Today, the first thing we will be doing is introducing ourselves. After you all have learned a little bit about your peers, we will be taking a placement test. I will explain more about that in a little. I will start things off. My name is Daikoku Funeno and I like teaching. I dislike carrots and cauliflower. I go on hikes with my wife during school break and my dream is to see all of you graduate and become successful ninja. Now, in the front row, you first, mister Uzumaki.

Naruto had picked the front because he remembered reading that students that sat closer to the teacher learned better. If he'd known he'd be the first one to have to introduce himself though, he may have settled for a seat in the second row. But oh well, it was too late for would've-s, could've-s, and should've-s. He'd just have to grin and bear it.

He stood up next to his seat and gave the teacher a bow. "Hello. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like to read and write. I dislike the Kyuubi and asparagus. My hobbies are reading, writing, and training with my uncle Jiraya. My dream is to make the world more peaceful. It's nice to meet you all," Naruto said, turning and bowing to the rest of the class. He then sat back down in his seat, glad to have gotten that out of the way.

Most of the class seemed to realize who he was as one point or another during his introduction, and they'd broken out into whispering, telling those who didn't know. By the time Daikoku got the class back under control, everyone knew that he was the son of the Yellow Flash, and the container for the Kyuubi. Their parents had carefully explained how the boy held the beast back for them, so none of them disliked him because of that, even if none of them really understood how he did it.

After his turn had passed and the others quieted down, the rest of the introductions went off without event, though Naruto did notice quite a few clan heirs and heiresses in his class. While none of them were overly interesting, Naruto made sure to pay attention to what they said. He wanted to try and befriend them so he memorized their names and faces.

After the last student had introduced himself, an Aburame Shino in the top left corner of the room, Naruto turned his attention back to Daikoku-sensei. The man took a breath and began to explain to them about the placement test they'd be taking. It would measure many different subjects, both shinobi and academic. It was usually treated as a pretest, one which the students could use to compare their final tests scores against to see their progress at the end of the school year. It also served to identify any student who may be on a significantly higher level than their peers, in which case more tests would be administered and if the student did well enough on them, the teacher may bring the option to skip grades to the student's guardian.

Once Naruto heard that, he put his friend making thoughts on the back burner to focus on the test. This was his chance to graduate early. If he could prove his worth today his future career could begin sooner and he could start making his dream, a dream for peace which had been growing in his brain for eight months now, a reality. Determination shining in his eyes, he looked down at the paper he'd been passed during his ponderings. A fifty question open answer quiz, with mathematical and reading comprehension question thrown in with the expected ninja focused ones. He'd blow this test out of the water.

Twenty minutes later Naruto had turned his quiz in and was back to his book, completely confident that he'd answered all of the questions correctly. He'd been surprised by how easy the questions were, until he remembered they were meant for regular six and seven year olds who'd only had a year to learn. He'd been learning all his life and was hardly normal, and as such had finished a full forty minutes early. There'd been quite a few incredulous looks when he'd headed up with his paper that early, but he wanted to get back to his book and the only way to do that without looking like he was cheating was to turn his test in. So there he sat, waiting for the allotted hour to run out, buried in his novel.

Naruto put his book away once Daikoku-sensei gave the five minute warning and waited patiently for the test's end. Time ran out, and once all of the papers had been handed in Daikoku-sensei released the class for lunch. Grabbing his lunchbox out of his backpack, Naruto stood and made for the door with the rest of the class. They were led by Daikoku to the playground; a large one with a jungle gym and swings by a balance beam and seesaw, next to a structure riddled with slides across form a carousel.

Most of the children's eyes lit up at the amazing playground, and they quickly populated either one of the wooden benches or a nice spot in the grass under a tree to eat their lunches so they could go play. As Daikoku-sensei called out that they had an hour and a half, Naruto made his way over to one of the benches by the other kids. He was determined to make a good impression with this group, even if he was going to shoot for advanced placement.

"Hello," Naruto said shyly to the three kids, two boys and a girl, who were sitting at the bench. "I'm Naruto. May I sit with you?"

Shikamaru Nara, Naruto remembered, grunted what was probably an affirmative which had Naruto sitting down next to the boy. He opened his lunch box; a black metal model with a red Uzumaki crest painted on it by Naruto, and took out its contents, a turkey sandwich, a fruit-cup, a chocolate brownie, and an ice pack to keep it all cool. As he started in on his sandwich he asked Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji how they felt they did on the test.

"I fell asleep halfway through," Shikamaru said before he returned to his lunch lazily. Naruto was quite surprised that the boy had basically skipped such an important part of his future for a nap, but wasn't quick to judge. While he personally didn't really understand why someone who didn't give their all to become a shinobi even signed up for the academy, he held his peace. He didn't know him well enough to draw conclusions. Perhaps the boy was narcoleptic? Although, that'd probably be even worse…

Ino interrupted his thoughts by berating Shikamaru. She then turned to him and responded, "It was hard. I barely knew ten of the answers." Despite the loud telling off she gave Shikamaru, she answered his question very shyly. Her cheeks were tinted a pink hue which popped against her pale complexion. Naruto, recognizing the stars in her eyes being directed at him from his time in the village, quickly turned to Choji with a small blush of his own.

The pudgy boy swallowed the considerable amount of food in his mouth, emptying his bulging cheeks in one loud gulp. He looked up and shyly, in a manner that gave off a completely different vibe than Ino's, responded with a quiet, "I didn't really know any of the answers. I tried, but I'm sure I failed it badly." The boy looked very downtrodden at his revelation, but with a few quick encouraging words from Shikamaru he was back to normal.

Naruto took a moment to finish his lunch and just enjoy the company. He wasn't very impressed by Shikamaru's lazy attitude, but reconsidered his opinion when the Nara cheered his friend up. Said friend seemed quite unsure of himself, but Naruto could make assumptions about that. The boy was probably picked on for his stature by other children who were ignorant to his clan's specialized jutsu and its corresponding body requirements. That was just conjecture however, for all Naruto knew there'd never been an ill word aimed at the boy and he was just naturally shy. Ino, on the other hand, seemed quite outspoken from what he'd observed in class. She also appeared to have a tiny crush on him. He'd seen plenty of girls in the village act the same way towards him, and had been confused until his uncle had teased him about those girls obviously liking him. Now he could spot the signs easily, and while he was no longer confused, he was certainly embarrassed. Sometimes, ignorance really was bliss.

Regardless of their drawbacks, Naruto found himself liking the three quite a bit. He did, however, decide that he also wanted to make friends that were more serious about becoming shinobi. So, after he'd finished his lunch and thrown away the wrappers, Naruto told the three that he'd talk to them later and set off towards the other kids. He saw a lot of children from civilian families playing on the different equipment, but passed them by in search of the clan kids that were in his class. His thinking was that the kids from shinobi families would be more driven to excel than their first-generation-ninja counterparts. Even though that idea hadn't held in his meeting with the younger rendition of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, he still felt it held merit. And so, he found himself walking up to the Hyuuga heiress, who was sipping a juice-box under a tree by herself.

When the six year old saw the blonde making his way toward her she began to blush and wring her hands. Naruto held in a groan at the hints that she was smitten with him, and tried to convince himself that she was just nervous on her first day of school. He stopped a polite distance away from her with a smile and asked, "Would you like to play on the seesaw with me?"

The girls face grew redder and redder as she stuttered out her reply. "Oh, um, sure. Yes. O-okay!"

Smiling at the affirmatives, he grabbed her hand once she had stood up and pulled her over to the seesaw. Once she had climbed onto her seat, he straddled his own and they began a nice relaxing pace. Once they'd been playing for a while, he decided to ask her questions about herself.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, by the way. I remember that you're Hyuuga Hinata from introductions. How do you think you did on your test, Hyuuga-san?"

Her blush had gone down a little, something they were both silently grateful for, and she had begun to relax a little as she just enjoyed playing with the nice boy. When he asked her about the test, she managed to answer without stuttering. "It was hard, and it seemed to end so quickly. I only got to question twenty three..." The teeter-totter had slowed as she answered. Now that she'd been reminded of her poor display she seemed to retreat back into her shell a little. "You were done so quickly. It must have been easy for you, right?" She asked.

"Well, um, I read a lot and stuff so…" Naruto had never felt bad for being so far ahead before, but when faced with someone who'd done worse than him he felt awkward. Did he make her feel bad by completing the test so quickly? That's not what he wanted! He just wanted to get back to his book and the stupid questions had been _so_ _easy_ that he'd just blazed through them. Now feeling bad and wanting to escape the awkward silence that'd been created, Naruto tried to change the subject. He was relieved when Daikoku-sensei called for the class to return inside. Excusing himself hastily, Naruto ran over to the bench he'd eaten at and grabbed his lunchbox. He then ran alongside the others back to class.

The rest of the day was spent assigning the students textbooks and a cubby for them to store their supplies and books in. As the last kid put his book in its place, the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. The class quickly and noisily made their way out of the building, eager to get back home.

As Naruto strolled through the village toward home he went over his day in his head. He was happy that the test had been so easy. What he wasn't so happy about, was his difficulty making friends. He was already having trouble fitting in with the other kids. Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji seemed to have known each other for a long time and he'd felt like an outsider around them, especially considering how much more driven to excel he was in comparison to the three. With Hinata he'd inadvertently upset her by how poor her skills seemed compared to his own. While she hadn't been jealous exactly, she had been discouraged by his easy success. Were others going to resent him for doing well so easily while they struggled? He didn't want to make anyone upset with his progress, but he _did_ want to progress. Felt like he needed to. For his dream.

He wanted to become powerful enough to protect the weak and stop people from being victimized. He'd never make any headway on his dream of peace if he allowed himself to remain weak. And he did consider himself weak. While anyone could see it was hardly fair for him to compare himself to his godfather, he did. True, he was convenient to measure himself to due to him always being there, but that was not the real reason why Naruto compared himself to the sage.

Naruto used Jiraya as his mark to surpass because of their shared goals. Both wanted the same things, peace and prosperity for all. And while Naruto loved the man to death; even his S-class uncle was unable to bring such things to the world. Jiraya wanted to make his dream a reality, and if he wasn't strong enough to do so then Naruto would just have to become even stronger.

By the time he arrived home Naruto had come to a decision. He knew he'd done well enough to warrant the extra tests Daikoku-sensei had mentioned. He'd do his best to advance to the rank of genin as fast as he could. The extra tutelage a jonin could provide would prove invaluable in his quest. While he still felt a small want to stay with his current class and try and make friends, he consoled himself with the promise to become great friends with his two squad mates and team leader.

Closing the door behind him, Naruto took off his shoes and called out a greeting. It was answered by his godfather who came out of the kitchen. He was covered in flour, and left big white footprints on the floor where he stepped, kinda like this one spirit did in a book Naruto'd read.

"I, um. Well, I tried to make you something nice in celebration of your first day, but it didn't go so well," Jiraya said, rubbing his white hair sheepishly, making a small cloud with every ruffle.

Naruto laughed and laughed, feeling much better. Though he may not know it, Jiraya's antics had done wonders to snap Naruto out of his semi-funk. When he finally got his chuckles under control, Naruto told Jiraya that it was ok. He saw a new ramen stand opening on his way home, and Jiraya agreed that it would be a suitable replacement. An hour later Naruto told his guardian about his first day and that he was going to shoot for advanced placement over a bowl of ramen. Jiraya supported Naruto's decision one hundred percent.

The next day, Naruto headed to school determined, not to make friends as he had been yesterday, but to impress his sensei enough to skip a grade. With the standard five year schedule, Naruto was sure he'd be good enough to skip at least one year, though secretly he was hoping to jump more.

Dressed in the same outfit as yesterday, though not actually the same clothes, Naruto made his way to room one-one-one. When he entered he headed to the same seat he'd sat in yesterday. Instead of reading as he had before, however, he instead went over all of his accumulated shinobi knowledge and skills in his head. After which he took out an orange spiral-bound notebook and randomly wrote off different math problems, starting with quick addition and subtraction and climbing the difficulty scale until he was graphing complex inequalities on the graph paper in the back of the notebook. Those who sat around him looked cockeyed at the paper trying to make sense of what he was doing, only to lose interest and turn away shortly thereafter.

Finally, Daikoku-sensei entered the room, looking around for a quick attendance count. As he'd suspected, everyone was here. While it wasn't entirely uncommon for kids to drop out of the shinobi program, doing so on the second day would be a little extreme.

Calling the class to order, he began the day. "Good morning class! Welcome back to the Shinobi Academy. Now that you've got your books and know a little about each other, we can get to work. Start off by opening your history books to page three and read until page twenty, then answer the review questions on your own paper. I need to step out for a second, don't get distracted and I'll give you some free time before lunch. Mr. Uzumaki, please come with me."

Naruto, coloring under his peer's attention, followed Daikoku-sensei out of the room.

Daikoku, misinterpreting Naruto's embarrassment as dread, tried to reassure the boy. "No need to get upset, Mr. Uzumaki, you're not in trouble. I've called you to the side because of your test scores yesterday."

'No shit,' Naruto thought, though he wisely held it in. Seriously, why else would he be called aside the second Daikoku entered the room?

"Your scores were remarkable, a perfect one hundred! That's quite extraordinary. Very few have achieved a perfect score before, and they all went on to become remarkable ninja. This is a good sign for sure, but moreover, it's an opportunity for class advancement," the man took a moment, perhaps to build up suspense? 'How cheesy'

"Well Mr. Uzumaki? Would you like to try?" Daikoku seemed quite excited by his own speech, a direct opposite to the façade Naruto displayed, though he truly _was_ quite pumped.

"Yes sir, I'd like to give it a shot," Naruto replied, in an eager voice. So much for the aloof professional persona he'd been hoping to impress with. Oh well, he'd just have to make up for it in skill.

Nodding in agreement to Naruto's decision, Daikoku led the boy through the building. After five minutes of twists and turns, he was led outside into a small training field, equipped with a few throwing targets and a medium sized dirt clearing, surrounded by tall oak trees. There, a ninja with brown hair and a scar spanning across his nose stood.

As the man walked to the center of the dirt clearing, Daikoku explained. "As you've already overqualified for second year academics, your potential year placement will be determined by how you score on the practical tests. However, if you begin to fall back in school work in that grade, you may still be sent back by one. Do you understand?" By this point they were only a few meters away from the scarred instructor.

"Got it," Naruto said, a little too excited for his typical polite attitude. Daikoku just grinned and headed back inside.

"Hello, my name is Iruka. I'm a chunin instructor here at the academy. This year, I'm teaching fifth years," said Iruka, gesturing for Naruto to come closer. Once he was only a few feet away, Iruka began again.

"While it is not unheard of for a student to skip a year every once in a while, your perfect score had many of the instructors here quite excited, myself included. The first test will be a taijutsu one. I expect your best. If you do well enough, you may even be able to join my class," Iruka said, though he doubted that the boy would be _that_ good. Still, in this world of ninja, stranger things had happened. Settling into a ready stance, Iruka motioned for the youngling to attack.

And so he did. Naruto shot at him with speed Iruka only saw in his Inuzuka student, quickly throwing out a one-two jab to get a reading on Iruka's defense. The teacher allowed the strikes to land on his guard, getting double tapped in the same spot. The little blonde packed a bigger punch than he would've guessed. Naruto, now having an idea of his examiner's skill, began to hammer away at his guard, quickly raining punches on the chunin's arms. Iruka was about to retaliate, when he saw what looked like a left backfist heading for his cheek. Leaning back, he was caught off guard when Naruto followed the motion through, continuing to spin until his fist neared the ground, where he pivoted on his palm and pushed a kick into the off-balance instructor's stomach.

Iruka managed to save himself a fall and a little dignity by keeping his feet underneath himself and taking quick steps back to maintain his balance. Now having a good idea of the student's offensive capabilities, Iruka was ready to test his defense, and came in at speeds that would challenge a decent fresh genin. Throwing a left jab followed by an uppercut, Iruka thought he'd nailed the blonde, when suddenly, his uppercut was caught and Iruka found himself being painfully thrown towards the ground. The blonde had blocked the jab and grabbed Iruka's uppercut by leaning forward, the instructor's forearm under his left armpit. He then pulled Iruka's arm straight, right hand firm on Iruka's elbow. He had locked himself in place via the tree walking exercise and had leaned back as soon as his hold was firm on Iruka. The result: Iruka was headed face first towards the ground. He saved his face by halting his movement with his other arm. This proved to be a bad decision when his elbow bent the wrong direction when _he_ stopped but the fifty pound boy, and all that momentum, continued towards the ground.

Naruto rolled out of the way of Iruka's fall arch. He jumped to his feet, horrified by the damage he'd done to his poor instructor. Now, almost freaking out, Naruto exclaimed, "Iruka-sensei! Are you ok? Where's the nurse's office?! I'm so, sooo sorry!"

Putting the pain in his arm out of his mind, he'd had way worse, Iruka tried to calm Naruto down.

"Don't worry Naruto! It's okay! See, I'm okay. That was a good throw. Perfectly executed. And don't worry about finding me a nurse. As people who teach the shinobi arts to children, it's a requirement for us chunin instructors to have at least our medical permit. I can take care of this in just a few minutes. Relax, I'm not mad. You've certainly lived up to my expectations at the very least," Iruka said, managing a small grin at the end.

Naruto, now misty eyed, managed a wobbly smile in return. In all the practice and spars he'd ever done, he'd never managed to hurt Jiraya at all. Causing someone else pain was new and very uncomfortable for the young Uzumaki. No matter what he did to Jiraya, the man had never been injured beyond a small cut or red marks where he'd been hit which never even bruised. Iruka's elbow was the worst injury he'd ever seen close up, much less inflicted.

While Naruto was thinking of his past spars, Iruka had already popped his elbow back into place with a wince and started healing his injury. Within fifteen minutes his arm was back to normal, albeit a little tender, and Naruto had calmed down significantly.

"I think that's enough taijutsu for today," Iruka said, rubbing the back of his head. "Now let us continue onto the ninjutsu portion of this exam. I'd like you to perform, if you can, in order: bunshin, kawarimi, and henge. After that you may demonstrate any other ninjutsu you know for extra points. Ready? Begin."

Naruto made ten bunshin wordlessly, followed by a silent kawarimi. Once he'd shunshin'd back in front of Iruka he performed his henge. He'd been practicing with this type of skill nonstop for the last few months, and it showed in his instant, silent, seal-less, and smokeless henge into Iruka. To say that the academy teacher was impressed would be an understatement. He'd noted the skill of the blonde's silent clone and replacement techniques, but the proficiency he showed with his henge was at master level. Iruka could only manage the thing silently, and he'd been teaching it to others for years!

Once he'd changed back, Naruto then threw his hands straight out to his sides. One rope per hand shot out, the thickness of a silver dollar and as black as ink, and continued forward until they'd punched through a tree each. He then retracted them back into his hands lightning-quick, the ends vanishing at his hands without leaving behind so much as a mark on his palms.

"I've inherited my mother's skill in raw chakra manipulation. I don't know if you noticed, but my henge was also a solid physical change. I've made a few other techniques with this talent, but they all boil down to around the same thing from an academic standpoint. For instance, the actual mechanics behind my henge and my chakra ropes are very similar. These are the ninjutsu I know. Before you ask, I don't know any genjutsu myself, however I am capable of dispelling them," Naruto said, guessing that the next portion of the test would logically be genjutsu. He was surprised then, when Iruka shook his head once he'd gotten over his amazement and said, "No, that's fine. Other than the basic theory behind them, genjutsu are skipped for the most part in the academy. Teaching their students how to cast and dispel illusions is the responsibility of the jonin sensei."

Naruto personally found this strange, and a tad foolish, but figured that as long as it was covered before any missions were taken that it wouldn't be a problem for normal genin. Keeping his musings internal, Naruto still paid attention as Iruka began to speak again.

"The last exam will test your throwing weapon proficiency. If your previous showings are anything to go by, I'm sure you'll do well. Now, to begin let's see how your accuracy is with shuriken. We'll finish after that with kunai," Iruka said, taking the aforementioned tools out of a pouch attached to his hip.

Taking the offered weapons, Naruto turned towards the target, a standard circle painted into concentric rings. Naruto estimated that the target was only ten yards away. 'Easy-peasy,' Naruto thought with a tiny smirk.

Iruka was surprised when the first shuriken landed on the outer ring. He'd been expecting Naruto's projectile proficiency to be comparable to his other skills. When the next fifteen shuriken landed in quick succession creating a perfect circle, Iruka began to think he'd done it on purpose. When the fifteen kunai Naruto had been given made a perfect spiral inside the circle, Iruka was proven right. Naruto's throwing pattern was a perfect Uzumaki swirl. Being able to put his weapons exactly where he wanted them meant they all could have been bull's-eyes, disregarding space available, if Naruto had so wished. He had perfect accuracy.

"Very good, very good. You've done very well today, Mr. Uzumaki. I have no doubts in my mind that you'd be ready to join a cell tomorrow. Be that as it may, you'll still be required to attend the minimum year in the academy."

Iruka was expecting an outburst at this point, but was pleasantly surprised when a deep frown was all the complaint Naruto gave.

"It's no slight against you, of course. We both know that the academy curriculum doesn't have much to offer you, but its Konoha law. Every shinobi of the Leaf must attend at minimum one year in the academy. I'm sure you can pursue independent study and make use of this time. And also, congratulations Mr. Uzumaki, for acing the advanced placement exam. Your score may just be the best on record, but I'll have to check some files later to be sure. Here," Iruka said, handing Naruto an envelope. "Have your guardian give his signature and you will officially be a fifth year academy student. Please show up at room one fifteen on time tomorrow, Mr. Uzumaki. I expect great things from you."

Naruto gave Iruka a happy smile and nod. Taking the envelope, Naruto began his trek back home.

'I did it,' he thought. 'I'll be a ninja in ten months. This… This is the first step to fulfilling my dream. Just wait. All those out there who are sick of this war infested world. All those who've lost people to the violence encouraged by the world's current system. Just wait. If there is peace out there, I will find it and bring it to you.

And if it isn't out there, I'll _make it.'_

**AN: Blake here. Just asking that if you've been enjoying the story so far you leave a quick review for me. Really helps a story get out there and get noticed if it has more reviews. Thanks, you guys are awesome! Till next time.**


End file.
